


That Beating Drum

by ShowMeAHero



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Family, Fix-It, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Meet-Cute, Nicknames, Post-Season/Series 03, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 17:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16644599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Franklin Nelsonhateshis name. It’s a stupid-ass name and he’s never liked it.“What’s wrong with Franklin?” Matt asks, frowning. “It’s— nice. Do you have a— Is there a nickname, or anything?”“Nothing ever stuck,” Franklin tells him. Matt gets an idea.





	That Beating Drum

**Author's Note:**

> This is 100% for Jo.
> 
> Title taken from ["Drumming Song"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boo2Zm69fhY) by Florence + The Machine.

Franklin Nelson  _ hates  _ his name. It’s a stupid-ass name and he’s never liked it.

“Why did you name me Franklin?” an eight-year-old Franklin asks his father one day, after he’s written his name on the top of his homework. Edward marks his spot in his book so he can look down at him.

“I didn’t,” he says. Franklin lifts his head, frowning. “Your mother named you.”

_ “You  _ named me Franklin?” he asks, turning to look at his mother. Anna looks to Edward, and Edward sets his book aside. Franklin frowns. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Honey, I didn’t name you,” Anna says. Franklin stares at her for a long beat before he turns to Edward.

“What?” Franklin asks. His heart’s pounding. “What does that mean?”

“Frankie,” Edward says, softly. Franklin looks between him and Anna, desperately trying to figure out what this means. It’s explained to him in pieces that night, while Theo and Candace eat dinner and pretend nothing’s happening.

And that’s how Franklin finds out his biological mother abandoned him when he was three months old, and that the woman he thought was his mother adopted him when he was two, and that he was named by someone he doesn’t even remember, who left behind an infant child she apparently just didn’t want anymore.

Franklin  _ hates  _ his name, more than anything. He  _ hates it. _

* * *

Franklin meets Matt Murdock.  _ That’s  _ a name, and he tells Matt how great it is. Matt laughs.

“The full name is Matthew Michael Murdock,” Matt says. “Plenty of alliteration.”

“Hell of a name,” Franklin comments. “Your initials spell  _ mmm.  _ That’s hilarious. I wish I had a good name.”

“What’s wrong with Franklin?” Matt asks, frowning. “It’s— nice. Do you have a— Is there a nickname, or anything?”

“Nothing ever stuck,” Franklin tells him. “Ahh, it’s just— You know how it is. My mom gave me the name then ding-dong-ditched.” Matt’s quiet for a second, so Franklin says, “Shit, sorry. Too heavy.”

“No, it’s fine,” Matt says. Franklin shakes his head.

“Dude, let’s get plastered,” Franklin suggests, and Matt smiles and takes the opportunity.

It’s not until late that night, Franklin snoring with his face buried in his pillow, that Matt really thinks about what Franklin had said to him. He hates his name. He gets it. He doesn’t really know what he can do about it, until he keeps listening to Franklin snore. He gets an idea, suddenly. It might be stupid, but if you don’t try, then you’ll never know.

Matt grabs one of his pillows and wings it across the room at Franklin. He hears it smack into his face, and Franklin makes a startled choking sound, shooting straight up in bed, chest heaving as he catches his breath.

“What the fuck?” Franklin exclaims, bleary.

“Nelson, you sound like a  _ foghorn,”  _ Matt says, because it’s the best he can do. There’s a beat of silence where Matt wonders if he somehow fucked up or made something weird.

“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry,” Franklin says, and he sounds genuinely distraught. “I didn’t mean to— I totally forgot. You probably got sensitive ears, man, I’m so sorry, if you want to switch roommates we totally can, I’ll just— I can go sleep in the common room tonight if that’s better—”

“No, no, it’s— it’s fine, it’s not that bad,” Matt says, heart pounding. He hasn’t known Franklin that long, but he already doesn’t want to lose him. Stick would probably call him weak for getting attached, but Matt squashes that thought right down. “It’s just funny. Foghorn. Foghorn Nelson.” He frowns, listens to Franklin’s heartbeat. “That’s a mouthful. Foggy Nelson.”

Franklin’s quiet again before he huffs a laugh. “Foggy Nelson. Well, it’s better than Franklin.” There’s a little more silence where Matt thinks he’s been caught out, but, luckily, Franklin’s still mostly asleep.  _ Foggy. Foggy now. Call him Foggy.  _ “Go back to sleep, Murdock. I’ll try to keep it down.”

Foggy falls back asleep almost right away. Matt lays back down, pulls his blankets back up, and settles in. It’s easy to fall asleep after that; he’s almost used to the snoring, by now.

* * *

Foggy thinks it’s a funny joke, when Matt calls him  _ Foggy  _ the next day. But then Matt keeps calling him Foggy. It seems like he thinks it’s just hilarious, the first few days. Then, other people in their classes start calling him  _ Foggy,  _ because they heard Matt say it, and they assume it must be a nickname they were unaware of.

That’s how it starts.

Soon, everyone in their class is calling him Foggy. Nobody calls him Franklin; his real name is a distant memory. Then, professors in their classes are calling him Foggy. Foggy tells Matt that even his  _ advisor  _ called him Foggy, one day in late October that freshman year.

The whole school calls him Foggy. Nobody calls him Franklin. It’s something little, and stupid. It doesn’t  _ mean  _ anything. But Foggy had sounded so genuinely bummed about his own name, and he does so much for Matt. It means a lot, to Matt, that he can do something for him, even something ridiculous like this.

Foggy invites Matt to come to Thanksgiving with his family, when he finds out Matt has nowhere to go. Matt asks if he’s sure.

“They probably want to meet the man who renamed their son,” Foggy jokes. Matt accepts, and he goes back to Hell’s Kitchen with Foggy to have Thanksgiving with dozens of Nelsons who tell him that he’s basically all Foggy talks about when he calls home. Matt blushes, and he hears Foggy’s heartbeat pick up, and he pretends it doesn’t mean anything.

Of course, then he calls Foggy  _ Foggy,  _ and people are quiet for a second.

“Oh, you mentioned he calls you  _ Foggy,”  _ Foggy’s sister, Candace, says.

“Because he snores stupid loud, right?” his brother, Theo, asks. Matt nods.

“That’s a good nickname for him,” Foggy’s dad said. “Right, Foggy?”

Foggy laughs. “Yeah, guess so.”

After Foggy’s dad calls him  _ Foggy,  _ it catches on quick. Everyone in Foggy’s family gives up on calling him  _ Franklin  _ almost instantly and pick up  _ Foggy  _ instead. When Matt is standing in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, waiting for Foggy to return with the pumpkin pie slice he promised him, Foggy’s dad comes up next to him.

“On your right, son,” he says, and Matt’s heart flips over in his chest at  _ son.  _ “Thanks.”

“For what?” Matt asks. He can’t possibly comprehend why the man who invited a virtual stranger into his home on a family holiday would be thanking said stranger instead of vice versa.

“Franklin’s always hated his name,” Foggy’s dad says. “Sorry— Foggy. We never found a nickname that stuck. I don’t know how you pulled this off, but I’m grateful.”

“Oh, no— no problem,” Matt says. “Thank you for letting me come.”

“Absolutely,” he replies. He claps Matt on the shoulder. “You’re welcome anytime, Matt. Anytime.”

Foggy hears that last part, and he takes it to heart. Matt goes back with Foggy for Christmas, and Easter, and Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July, and, soon, he’s going back with Foggy for every weekend, every holiday, every visit, no matter why he’s going. Foggy’s dad keeps calling him  _ son,  _ and Matt’s heart rolls over every time. He loves being a part of Foggy’s family.

* * *

He also, as it turns out, loves Foggy. The first time he kisses him, he cups Foggy’s face in his hands, murmurs, “Foggy, I love you,” and presses his mouth to the corner of Foggy’s lips. Foggy exhales shakily, and Matt smiles against his skin.

Foggy finds creative and fun ways to get him to say  _ Foggy  _ without even meaning to. At this point, he barely remembers Foggy’s birth name was  _ Franklin,  _ that he went by Franklin until the age of eighteen. Now, Foggy is thirty, and he and Matt are opening their own firm. They’re partners in more ways than one, and then Matt ruins everything.

“Foggy, please,” Matt says, when Foggy finds out everything. When he finds Matt bleeding out on the floor, and he pieces together not only Matt (the broken pieces of his body, the bloody flesh, the split skin), but also what Matt has been doing. The lies Matt’s been telling. The secrets he’s been keeping.

Foggy confronts him, and Foggy leaves. Matt pushes him away, pushes and pushes and  _ pushes  _ until he barely sees Foggy anymore. He goes to Josie’s and finds out Foggy closed their shared tab. He goes to the office and Foggy’s scent hasn’t been there in days.

Then, he dies.

Then, he comes back.

“Foggy,” Matt says, in a dirty bar, and Foggy embraces him like he never left, heart pounding, salt in his eyes. Matt leaves him, again, but this time, Foggy refuses to let him go. He makes Matt take the case with him, and he screams at him on rooftops, and he brings Matt back to his family’s party. It’s like he never left; Foggy’s family still loves him. His dad still calls him  _ son.  _ It’s like things are okay.

It’s even better when Foggy brings him into the back room to show him where Theo’s letting them set up their office. Foggy shuts the door, crowds up against Matt, and lets Matt make the first move.

And Matt does. He breathes,  _ “Foggy,”  _ and kisses him, and things are almost okay again.

* * *

It takes a while, but they settle back into a rhythm. Nelson & Murdock & Page does well, thanks to Foggy’s reputation from trying to take Fisk down. People come to them in droves. Matt introduces them as Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, and Foggy lets him. He’s always gone by Foggy Nelson, but now, they’re actually successful, and he’s still using the name. Matt’s surprised Foggy kept the name after everything Matt’s done, but he doesn’t ask.

Foggy and Matt find a new normal. Matt is still Daredevil, but he’s also Matthew Murdock, attorney at law,  _ and  _ he’s Matt, friend and lover and partner. Foggy moves out of Marci’s apartment and into Matt’s. He gets them blackout curtains to keep the neon out, puts up art and puts down rugs and makes the place into a home.

Matt makes Foggy dinner one night, then gets down on one knee next to the table Foggy picked out and proposes to him, says, “Foggy Nelson, would you—” and Foggy kisses him before he can even ask properly.

When they get married, it’s not with Father Lantom officiating, and that  _ rips  _ at Matt’s chest, because that was always how he’d imagined it. It hurts even more when the priest who  _ is  _ officiating says, “And do you, Franklin Nelson—”

“Foggy,” Matt says, before he can even think. “It’s Foggy, Father.”

“What?”

“He prefers Foggy,” Matt tells him. Foggy squeezes his hands.

“Matt, it’s not— That’s not my real name,” Foggy says. “It’s fine, Father, it’s not important—”

“It’s important to  _ you,”  _ Matt interrupts him. “This is  _ your  _ wedding—”

_ “—our  _ wedding—”

“And you should have the name you want,” Matt tells him. Before he knows it, Foggy’s kissing him. Matt smiles into the kiss. The priest sighs.

“Gentlemen, please, you have to finish the ceremony first,” he says.

“Sorry, that one’s on me,” Foggy apologizes. “Well, half. Half on me.”

“How is this  _ my  _ fault?” Matt asks, laughing.

“Because  _ you’re  _ the one who interrupted him, you dingus,” Foggy argues. “And  _ you  _ told him to use Foggy, which was so sweet, how could I  _ not  _ kiss you, so that one’s  _ totally  _ on you.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Matt laughs, “You’re— You’re  _ so  _ ridiculous— Father, please continue—”

Foggy kisses him one last time before he says, “Yeah, sorry, go ahead, keep going.”

It seems like it takes forever to get through the rest of the ceremony, because Matt’s whole body is thrumming with the need to kiss Foggy again. By the time Matt hears, “You may kiss the groom,” it feels like it’s been an eon.

“Finally,” Matt breathes, pulling Foggy back in as fast as he can for another kiss. Foggy deepens the kiss automatically, and he forgets they have an audience, hands falling from holding Foggy’s face to holding his hips. Foggy smiles, and people are cheering and clapping and whistling.

“I love you, Matt,” Foggy tells him, soft enough for only to Matt to hear.

“I love you, too, Foggy,” Matt says. His heart’s pounding,  _ Foggy, Foggy, Foggy.  _ Foggy, who didn’t handle Matt with kid gloves. Foggy, who snored — still snores — like a foghorn, who earned his nickname. Foggy, who brought Matt home, who made him a part of his family. Foggy, who abandoned any hopes at a lucrative career or a successful life to start a firm with Matt. Foggy, who came back after Matt shoved him away. Foggy, who loves Matt in spite of everything,  _ because  _ of everything. It’s  _ always  _ been Foggy.

Foggy’s thumb strokes the line of Matt’s brow, holding his face, smiling when he presses his mouth to Matt’s cheek. “God, you’re the fucking  _ best,  _ Murdock, you know that?”

Foggy. It’s  _ Foggy.  _ “No,” Matt says. “No, that’s you, Foggy.”

Foggy laughs, and Matt pulls him in, just to hug him, embrace him, hold him. He’s warm, and solid, and Matt loves him, so  _ fucking  _ much.

**Author's Note:**

> I also actually wrote some books! It was a long road but, I did it! Ta-da! If you want to read either of them, shoot me a message!
> 
> I have a blog now to request imagines - I just like to make people happy. Submit requests [here!](https://imagine-in-the-fandoms.tumblr.com/ask)
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter at [@nicolelianesolo](https://twitter.com/nicoIodeon) or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


End file.
